March 30, 2015

A sweet friend and former colleague of mine is looking forward to welcoming home her husband and his troop from deployment. A bunch of the wives and girlfriends are getting together to create goodie bags to welcome them, but she wants to make sure those who are single and/or far from family get some love too.

It would mean SO MUCH to her (and me... and, of course, the troop) if your students would send cards/letters/pictures to include with the bags to remind them what it's all about.

There's a pretty quick turnaround on this, since she needs everything by Monday. So, these probably need to be in the mail by Thursday.

I know it's quick, but think of the impact of such a small gesture!

Maybe this can be done during recess or lunch? With a blogging club?

Please send letters to:

Kellianna Magallon
20222 Garland Street
Covington, LA 70435

Thank you for considering this! It's SUCH a meaningful activity, and I wish I had known about it sooner so I could participate with my students!

On Friday afternoon, in the last two hours before spring break officially began, we piled all of our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders into the gym for an assembly.

Normally, I would roll my eyes at such a suggestion. These kids have cabin fever like I've never seen before. For the past few weeks, they've all been acting like little carbonation bubbles waiting to burst at the first sight of freedom.

But this was no ordinary assembly. This was a celebration of charity, an acknowledgement of our tigers who worked hard to help those who need it most.

During the assembly, EIGHTEEN students, boys and girls alike, and four teachers shaved their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer. And they raised more than $15,000 doing so, with our top fundraiser bringing in more than $3,000 alone!

There were cheers.

There were tears.

And when those children with freshly shaved heads walked through our tunnel of high fives, their faces beamed with pride. Because they knew they did something that mattered.

Between the DM ads and all the GoFundMe and charity fundraisers, it seems like the entire PURPOSE of social media is to ask for people's money.

Except that's not how I want it to be. I never advertise my TPT products on my personal FB page. I want to use social media to connect with my friends and acquaintances. You know... to talk about things and share our lives like we used to do in person BEFORE social media.

Am I alone in this?

Some days, like to today, it really feels like I am.

It's not like I don't understand why Direct Salespeople reach out to their "friends" on Facebook and other social media. I get it. I really do.

And it's not even that I can't see the value in some of these products. I have some fantastic products from some of these businesses. (Most have been bought out of pure guilt.)

But it's SUPER annoying when 90% of your posts are about business. Maybe because social networking is what I do when I'm trying NOT to think about work.

Not to mention, my mama taught me that it's rude to ask people for money.

I think the biggest offenders are those in the "health" industry. There are some FABULOUS people on my friends list who work for these companies, and I swear they post before & after shots of "customers" ten times a day!

WE GET IT!

If we want to buy your product, WE ALL KNOW who to ask!

Please don't make me hide you from my newsfeed. Because then I'll miss out on the 10% of your posts I DO CARE about. And I won't interact with you. And then I'll probably forget we're even friends.

I've done that before. With people I'm happy to forget.

Is shoving your business down people's throats ANY BETTER than shoving religion down someone's throat?

Hint: It's not!

I read a post once in which an acquaintance said, "Religion [and Direct Marketing] should be treated like your penis. Go ahead and be proud about it. Maybe even offer it up once if you know someone who may be interested. But respect others if they tell you they don't want to try it out. Anything more is harassment!"